The
November-December Offensive

Completely
ready in every sense of the word the battalion moved out of Tomblaine at
0800 on November 8th to an assembly area south of Leyr. It was raining
heavily when we closed in bivouac there at 1000, and we spent the night
there.

The following
day, with the rain still pouring down and the ground becoming increasingly
muddy and boggy, TF Davall travelled to a forward assembly area in the
vicinity of Menoncourt. But, even such miserable conditions did not dampen
the men's certainty that we were starting on the final drive to end the
war by Christmas. In addition to the downpour's muddying up the ground,
the Seille River had reached flood level, and during the night the approaches
to the pontoon bridge north of Menoncourt were washed out. So, unable to
cross the river, we remained in our assembly area that night.

On the
morning of the tenth, we moved up to Nomeny and crossed the river there,
and as continuous maintenance of the approaches was necessary the pontoon
bridge proved to be a traffic bottleneck, and our tail didn't clear until
early in the afternoon. Then, we proceeded north through Mailly-Sur-Seille
to the Bois De Seigneur. We contacted no enemy on this approach, but our
progress was greatly hampered by fallen trees on the road, and we couldn't
risk taking to the open fields because of the terrain's boggy condition.
With the task force in an approach march formation, "A" Company was in
the advance guard, and it used the dozer tank to clear the trees from the
route. The advance guard moved from Secourt by way of Sailly to Achatel,
and as the bridge across the railroad north of Achatel was destroyed, "A"
Company left the road and forced a crossing in order to support an attack
by the 318th Infantry Regiment on the town of Moncheux. The remainder of
the task force turned back to Secourt, and proceeded northeast to a grade
crossing of the same railroad, and thence southeast to Moncheux. When they
arrived there, they found the town already captured by the doughs. So,
Task Force Davall went into bivouac northeast of the Moncheux. During the
night, we were subjected to severe shelling.

Next morning,
the task force jumped off and continued its drive east. The advance guard
encountered a culvert on the road to Tragny, and the bridge across the
stream southwest of the town was completely demolished by the enemy early
that morning. An attempt to cross was impossible, so the force turned back
and tried to proceed on secondary roads through the BOIS DE JUVILLE, but
all trails through these woods were discovered impassable. Our leading
element became bogged down while trying to bypass the woods to the south;
this also resulted in their being subjected to heavy artillery and mortar
fire. Then, a new combat team was formed from elements of the task force,
which included Companies "A" and "D" under the command of Major Britton,
Battalion Exec. Their mission was to move cross country and to be in direct
support of Task Force Elm, made up mainly of the 318th Infantry Regiment,
in their attack on Tragny and Thimonville. Meanwhile, the rest of Task
Force Davall returned to the main road to Tragny to await the completion
of the engineer bridge. During this time Combat team Britton was busy cleaning
out Thimonville of enemy troops who had remained hidden or filtered back
into the town after the infantry regiment had passed through. After finishing
this task, Major Britton moved his unit toward Morville sur Nied and thence
toward Baudrecourt. The ground was still not suited to tank warfare and
General "Mud" still held full command of the area. The bridge south of
Baudrecourt was found destroyed and the combat team was ordered to bivouac
southwest of the town. The remainder of Col. Davall's moved east when the
three bridges in the vicinity of Tragny were completed, then later closed
in bivouac at Morville sur Nied after dark, and remained there for the
night. During the night, an attached engineer platoon was sent forward
to repair the blown bridge holding up Combat Team Britton south of Baudrecourt.
The unit under Maj . Britton was once again under the direct control of
the Battalion commander.

That night
the engineers, while working under very difficult conditions, completed
the bridge at Baudrecourt, and on the morning of the twelfth our elements
crossed and entered the town. Our leading elements ran into light resistance
and small arms fire but continued forward. Company A was sent to join 9th
Armd, Infantry Battalion and moved north from town with the mission of
seizing and holding the bridge across the La Rotte River, between Baudrecourt
and Vatimont. The bridge was found to be demolished. While in that area
the unit was ambushed just north of the railroad tracks which ran by the
river. Company A having two platoons back as a holding and covering force
was able to extricate the one platoon receiving the fire. Meanwhile Company
C was dispatched northeast of the town to block all approaches in that
area. Company D moved out of town on a road south and east of town, blocking
that approach. Reports from prisoners, and aerial reconnaissance were that
the enemy was well dug in in all areas east of Baudrecourt. They had good
artillery and direct fire support, plus terrain features which were to
their credit. At 1400, some units of the 318th Infantry Regiment who moved
into to town prepared to attack across the river and establish a bridgehead
on the north side so that the engineers could repair the bridge. Company
A took up positions generally along the railroad track south of the river
and prepared to support this attack by direct fire. The new attack began
shortly after 1400 and coincided with an attack by Task Force Godfrey on
Vatimont at our left. Little opposition was encountered and the bridgehead
was successfully established. Meanwhile Companies A, C, and D were drawn
into defensive positions around the north and east side of town, and a
security detachment was provided for the engineers during the constructionof
their bridge. The enemy had used a great deal of artillery while in their
defensive positions and as we neared their batteries these guns were fired
as direct fire weapons. We paid a high price in officers during this small
offensive: Lt. Thomas G. Hill, company commander of Company C was killed
by artillery fire while dismounting from his tank. Also, Capt. Klotz, commanding
Company A was wounded and evacuated as well as some much needed platoon
leaders. In many Companies Platoon Sgts. were now placed in charge of platoons.
The loss of two company commanders as well as some platoon leaders meant
a complete reorganization of the leaders of the Battalion. The Task Force,
meanwhile, remained in Baudrecourt during the night. Heavy shelling continued
at night, which meant that "Jerry" was not moving out and was going to
hold his ground.

By this
time, it was evident to all that a piledriving breakthrough, as was the
case in Normandy and Brittany, would not be on the menu here; more in the
order of a steady hammering, grinding drive for time in order to withdraw
the necessary troops to the Siegfried defenses, Also, quagmire fields restricted
our mobility and maneuverability, and Jerry was defending ground and towns
that he knew and chose. But the attack continued.

Shortly
after noon on the thirteenth, we left Baudrecourt and struck out for Vatimont,
but soft mud at the crossing site and the necessity for continuous road
repair resulted in extremely slow operation. So it was late afternoon before
the column had cleared the north bank of the river. Thence, we proceeded
to Arraincourt and secured the town for the night.

Here is
an interesting sidelight on our capture of Arraincourt: When "B" Company
entered the town a hysterically glad character rushed out to meet the lead
tank. It was an American pilot, Walter Jensen by name, who had been shot
down in that vicinity several weeks before, and who had been hidden and
fed since that time by a French family; he stayed with us that night, and
we evacuated him the next morning, with his gratitude knowing no bounds.
We on the other hand told him how sincerely we appreciated the support
his fellow fighter pilots bad been giving us, and how much better we felt
when we saw the destruction-bearing P-47s in the sky, and how eagerly we
were waiting for them now; the rain and overcast skies bad grounded them
for a long time now.

On the
following morning, Task Force Davall jumped off in an attack along the
axis of an east-west road through Boulange, Suisse, and Landroff. (The
attack was systematically undertaken, and each of the towns was taken in
the following manner). Before going into a description of the assault,
there is an important factor to be considered. It was becoming more and
more apparent that Jerry was sticking close to the towns in his defense,
and ignoring dominating terrain features from which he could much better
halt our advance. So, after careful scrutinizing and estimate of the terrain
and condition of the ground, Colonel Davall employed the following plan
with success: Company "C" moved east along, the high ground north of, and
generally paralleling the road. Company "A," reinforced by one platoon
of tank destroyers and a platoon of infantry, moved east on the road, As
each town was reached, is was taken under fire by Company "A," while "C"
Company began a limited enveloping movement from the high ground. When
"C" Company had reached a position dominating the town, it covered by fire,
while "A" Company moved in and seized the town. Forward elements were ordered
to hold up at Landroff, and Captain Smith, battalion S-3 was sent forward
to organize and hold the town. Company "D" was committed to secure "C"
Company's left, west flank on the high ground northwest of Landroff, and
extend along the high ground to the west, thus blocking the approach from
the north, and protecting the Suisse-Landroff road, the only line of communications
between the two towns. Our neck was sticking out, and we had to thoroughly
tie-in and organize our positions. With the battalion CP in Suisse, the
force in Landroff was reinforced by a second platoon of infantry, now placing
in the town one medium tank company, two platoon of infantry, and one tank
destroyer platoon.

At about
1800, the enemy launched a counter-attack on Landroff. He was in considerable
infantry strength, and was supported by eight SP guns or tanks. Two were
knocked out by "A" Company's sharp shooters, and the rest withdrew. The
dismounted elements, however, continued to press the attack, but were finally
driven off by all the fire we could muster, including artillery, This attack
had been launched from the north and approached town along the main north-south
road; it was preceded by a marked increase of artillery concentration which
had been falling constantly on Landroff since the entry of the task force,
and it continued to fall throughout the night, in spite of our counter-battery
fire, Then, at 2100, Jerry tried another counter-attack, again from the
same direction, and again he suffered heavy losses and was repulsed at
2140. The situation was becoming grim, and so the garrison there was reinforced
by Company "C" of the 44th Armored Infantry Battalion. But the krauts hadn't
given up by a long shot, and they attacked again at 2330. Once again, however,
our hardbitten defenders drove them off with more losses. At this time,
several TOTs were fired on the woods northeast of Landroff, where we determined
that the Germans were forming their attacks. A total of 18 battalions,
all types, fired this artillery mission.

So far
so good, but it soon developed that what had taken place up to now was
only the entree, for at 0130, Jerry made his main effort. Also, this time
again, he launched his strong infantry attack along the same axis of approach.
Our defenders stood fast, and although the main force of this attack formation
was broken before it reached the town, they threw aside their attack formation,
and desperately carried on with infiltration tactics. The night was pitch
dark, and so, under this natural concealment, they succeeded in getting
many men into town, and in cutting the eastwest road at the west end of
Landroff. Here began a melee at close quarters and hand-to-hand that went
on for the rest of the night. There were countless individual acts of heroism,
and it would be impossible to recount all of them, To name only a few,
there was Captain Smith, who performed a herculean

task in
the defense of the town, and emerged from countless hand-to-hand combats
unscratched only to be finally shot in the course of the night by a kraut
dough at point blank range, but he killed him in spite of the slug he was
carrying in his leg, and carried on without even stopping. He was awarded
a Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the heroic defense. We can
single out only a few of "A" Company's brave defenders such as S/Sgt. Shumway,
Sgt. Foutch, S/Sgt. Berger, Lt. Kratzer, and T/5 Joe Kaminski, but in order
to really do justice we should submit the entire "A" Company roster for
heroic gallantry in repelling the foe. There was T/5 James Pye of the Medics,
to mention only one of our detachment there who labored without concern
for their personal safety. Suffice it to say that all there covered themselves
with glory in their magnificent stand, and in so doing wrecked completely
what amounted to almost an enemy division in total strength. That hectic,
never-to-be-forgotten night at Landroff broke our opponent's back, and
although he would still be able to delay us by bringing other troops in
before us, he was never again in our sector to offer a serious threat!

We held
our defensive positions there until we were passed through by elements
of the 80th Division. They had finally seen the light somewhere way upstairs,
and had decided that this was no spearheading breakthrough, but an infantry
show. Nevertheless, when passed through by the doughs, we consolidated
our positions around Landroff and Suisse, and remained there until the
twenty-second of November, reorganizing, and giving our vehicles some badly
needed maintenance. However, while this shake-down and rehabilitation was
taking place, Company "B" was assigned to Task Force Brown, and took part
in the attack of Bincheville, before reverting to 69th control. Task forces
of the division alternately kept pushing Jerry back toward the Saar, and
this grinding was coordinated with attacks by the doughs; the 80th had
slid north to screen the corps flank and the 35th, another veteran infantry
division, was now working with us. The 68th, skillfully brought along in
this rehabilitation by a commander who was tops, was rounding into shape
again.

On November
23rd, a platoon of engineers, a platoon of infantry, Company "D," and the
dozer were placed under CCA's direct control for a reconnaissance in force
mission in the vicinity of Lelling, and while they were on this job, Company
"D" was attached to Task Force Brown (44th AIB), and Task Force Davall
moved out for the Freybouse-Fremestroff area, Then, when its action was
no longer required at Lelling, "D"
Company, now under 1st Lt. William H. Collins, returned to the fold.

We almost
forgot something! Here it was "Thanksgiving," and even though the setting
wasn't exactly a holiday one, our commanders were determined, front line
or not, to see that everyone enjoyed a thanksgiving dinner. The kitchens
were brought up, and the cooks prepared excellent turkey dinners with all
the fixings. At one company in particular the holiday feast will never
be forgotten. "C" Company, with Task Force Brown, was undergoing very heavy
shelling at Gessling-Hemering, and all the tanks were on the line. As the
mess was set up in town, it was necessary for the men to infiltrate to
their chow by a series of zig-zag dashes from the line. Dinner music was
furnished by the screaming meemies. And while the festivities were in full
swing, some heinie artilleryman, showing no respect for American customs,
decided to liven up the party. He sent a well placed eighty-eight shell
into a nearby manure pile, thus giving both men and food an unwelcome shower.
That was how "C" Company celebrated Thanksgiving!

At 1000
on the 25th, Company "B," 68th, and Company "C" of the 44th AIB jumped
off in an attack on the high grounds and woods north of Fremestroff. But
the condition of the ground was still too soft, and the attack bogged down.
However, the force took up defensive positions on the southern slopes of
the hill north of town. Then on the following day, Companies "A" and "C"
44th launched another attack on the same hill, and had secured the objective
at 1300, while undergoing heavy mortar fire. Our Companies "A" and "B"
moved up to the crest and consolidated the position at 1430. The attack
was preceded by heavy artillery concentrations on the woods, and on the
ridge. No resistance was encountered on the ground, Incidently, this was
part of the rear zone of the Maginot Line, and concrete pillboxes were
built around the ground, supplemented by earthwork entrenchments. Had Jerry
chosen to hold these fortified positions, he could have made it very difficult
for us, but he abandoned them without a struggle; his position was untenable
as Task Force Brown was in a position to outflank him from the northwest,

For the
next two days we maintained defensive positions on this high ground north
of Fremestroff, and awaited further orders.

On the
29th of November, we were ordered to attack and seize the towns of Lanning
and Lixing. The plan called for the platoon of the 86th Recon to move out
first, and slide off to the left flank, followed by "B" Company directly
attacking Lixing and "C" Company of the 44th to encircle Lanning and Lixing
from the high ground north of Fremestroff. But when "H" hour arrived none
of the deployed elements were able to move out as they were hampered by
the boggy condition of the ground. So, Col. Davall ordered his Reconnaissance
Platoon, commanded by 2nd Lt. Robert J. Burns, Jr. to push an aggressive
swift reconnaissance in force into Lixing, and to go as far beyond it as
they could. So they moved out quickly, barrelled down the road to a point
just short of the town, worked through the town dismounted, reported no
opposition, and the presence of large craters blocking armored advance
on the main road, discovered a bypass, found an abatis road block north
of town, slid around it, and were finally brought to a halt by a huge anti-tank
ditch, And here is a point which makes every member of that small force
thank their lucky stars when they think of it. For, when the elements in
the rear finally hit the road to Lixing, the second peep was blown sky-high
by a mine in the middle of the road short of the town, and many more were
later discovered in carefully concealed positions.

And yet,
every vehicle in the Recon Platoon had sped over the same spot previously,
miraculously missing all the mines.

Thus were
the battalion objectives taken, and were later secured with the arrival
of "B" Company and "C" Company of the doughs. We remained there, until
late the following day, when it was decided by higher headquarters to dissolve
Task Force Davall. There was no longer any need for further pushing north,
as the 80th had hooked down and had made contact with us. Once more as
a battalion we moved into billets in Lanning, Maxstadt, and Leyviller.

For the
first four days of December, we spent our time in maintaining our vehicles,
weapons, and personal equipment. Then, on the fifth day, Companies "C"
and "D" were attached to Task Force Brown, Company "A" was attached to
Task Force Wall (50th AIB), the Assault Gun Platoon to the direct control
of CCA, and the balance of the battalion was attached to CCR. These attachments
were made in preparation for the divisions assault on the important Diebling,
Tenteling, Metzing area.

The attack
by Task Force Brown and Task Force Wall jumped off at 0630 from the vicinity
of Henriville in a northeasterly direction, with TF Wall on the right.
The advance went slowly as the Wall force met stiff opposition on the southeast
flank, and Col. Brown's doughs took a great deal of methodical time to
screen through the Buchwald woods. Two bridgeheads were gained across the
stream at Farbersviller and Farschviller, the first by the 80th Division,
and the second by Task Force Wall. Company "D" crossed at the Fabersviller
site, and proceeded along the road screening the left flank of the task
force. Their committment was hurried and their indefinitely assigned limit
was reached so speedily that the Collinsmen were precariously out on a
limb for a while, waiting for the advance of the other elements of the
attacking force. However, they took every advantage of cover and concealment
and sweated out further developments. Company "C" in the meanwhile, crossed
the stream at Farschviller and supported the doughs in screening through
the Buchwald woods, thence pushing through to take Diebling. Company "A"
crossed at the same place and, moving up with Task Force Wall, took Metzing.

The action
continued hot and heavy as Company "D" receiving fire from Ebering, latched
onto a platoon of infantry and swung north to clean out the town. The "lights"
were hot that day, raring to go, and, under the leadership of their company
commander, went through Ebering like a dose of salts. "C" Company, crashing
along in high gear, flushed out Tenteling. This attack had originally
started out as an infantry show, supported by tanks, but it gained momentum,
the tanks slammed ahead, leaving the doughs behind to mop up. Several heinie
artillery batteries were overrun and smashed during this hectic action,
The breakthrough had reached a point now that rendered close cooperation
between task forces impossible.

After the
capture of Diebling by Company "C," its calm unhurried C.O. Captain James
A. Russell, was ordered to attack Cadenbronn Heights. Moving quickly up
on the right flank was Company "B" under Captain Ross C. Brown. The attack
had been so vicious that we had now advanced beyond the objective assigned
by higher headquarters, and Cadenbronn bad previously been reckoned a difficult
objective to be assaulted at a later date. However, here was considered
a chance to kill two birds with one stone. This attack jumped off at 1700
from Diebling; Company "B" while moving up the slopes northeast of Diebling
came under heavy anti-tank fire from the vicinity of Metzing. It was dusk.
Visibility was poor, and ground was extremely soft, thus greatly hindering
their mobility. Company B, partially bogged down, was unable to extricate
itself from this quagmire Enemy anti-tank guns in well defiladed positions
blazed away at "Baker's right flank" and knocked out seven tanks. With
their two remaining vehicles they took their part of the objective. The
final objective was secured, by both Baker and Charlie at 1750.

During
the above mentioned assault a very unusual incident occurred. Before Company
A reached Metzing Lt. Kratzer's tank was hit and all members of the crew
bailed out. Unknown to them Tech. 4th Grade Shunk, the driver had been
instantly killed and he was in such a position that his foot kept the accelerator
depressed and the vehicle rolled on in low gear, a dead man at the levers,
through the enemy lines into the town, and beyond it, describing great
lumbering circles before it came to a halt.

This
proved to be a costly, yet amazing successful day's operations, and all
involved were rightly proud of a job well done. We Tankers had stabbed
deep into the enemy's underbelly. We had them on the run but darkness dropped
a curtain on the day's operations.

On the
sixth the remaining elements of the task force closed in the vicinity of
Tenteling, and when all the attachments reverted to Battalion control,
we were assigned a defensive sector north of Ebering-Tenteling, under control
of CCR. During the succeeding days until the 13th of December, we held
and improved our defensive position. Then we were relieved in this sector
by elements of the 9th AIB and 69th Tank Battalion. When the relief had
been completed the Battalion went into Division reserve and moved into
billets in Lanning, Maxstadt, and Biding, where we remained until December
17th and devoted our time to rest and refitting,

Then, on
the 18th of December the Battalion moved to Merlebach where all troops
were comfortably billeted in town. We continued our program of rest and
maintenance there, and entertainment was provided. Shower facilities were
excellent.

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Last updated: June 12, 1999.